Yesterday, I had a new patient. She was a very nice young woman, 22 years old, who is both an LPN (nurse) and college student. It had been a year since she’d seen a dentist. She didn’t have any treatment done by the last dentist because she didn’t feel comfortable there. She needs a fair bit of treatment, and she’s now ready.
She found my practice via a Google search. I often ask patients which search terms they used (if they can remember). I also ask if they looked at other websites. If so, then I ask why they chose mine over the others. This articulate young woman was happy to share the process of her decision.
She told me that she did look at several other websites. She said, “I liked your website best because I could understand what you were saying. It made sense. The other websites just didn’t make any sense to me. They were mostly mumbo-jumbo.” She also liked that I made it obvious that the website was created by me.
Another interesting comment she made… “I don’t have insurance, so I’m paying for everything myself. I could tell that you weren’t going to be cheap. But, I felt like I would get the best treatment here. And, as soon as I walked in, I felt good.”
I’ve long emphasized the importance of website content. “Content is king!” Good, original, personalized content is COMPELLING. It should be conversational in style, in my opinion. The website visitor should feel like you’re speaking directly to him or her. Focus on benefits of dental treatment. Don’t make it a dental encyclopedia. Also dispense with the generic and canned platitudes about “caring.” Show’em what you can do for them.
Again, I’m not suggesting that dentists should build their own websites. But, I AM strongly recommending that dentists contribute the CONTENT of their websites. Your own self-created content (both text and images) amounts to tremendous CREDIBILITY. When the website content reflects your own way of speaking to your patients, it comes across as genuine. If and when the patient comes to your office, his / her experience will be congruent with the website experience.
Does your website follow the old Yellow Pages recipe of virtually identical ads? How are you different? What makes your office special? Why should website searchers choose you? Do you think it helps if your website is virtually identical in content to all the others?
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Exactly. Your website should represent the flavor of your office. Patients should be able to tell what their experience will be like from your website.
Hi Mike! Great to see you today at Howard’s lecture/comedy show. He had me laughing so hard with his irreverent style and amazing insights. Great to visit with you and Thanks for answering many of my questions regarding six month ortho etc. you are an amazigly generous and genuine person. I’m so jazzed that I got to spend time with you and Howard. I feel like I got to spend quality time with two of my Heroes. I really mean that! I’m currently rewording and adding content to my website to talk to my patients and hopefully future patients. I use your book that I bought when you taught us 6 M Smiles. Wishing you All The Best, Alvaro
P.S. loved hearing about your Aircraft Carrier Jet Flight experience-Amazing!!
Hi Alvaro! It was a very nice surprise to see you! It’s always fun to see and hear Howard. I had a great time hanging out with you and the rest of the “Cuban Mafia!” 😉 I looked for you on Facebook but only found your practice FB page. Are you on FB personally at all?